Alan Edwards

Alan Edwards (born 1955) is an English publicist and founder of PR company The Outside Organisation. Over the last 40 years, Edwards has worked with a variety of clients in the entertainment business, from The Rolling Stones, The Spice Girls, Amy Winehouse, David Gilmour, Beverley Knight, Prince, Michael Jackson, Jon Bon Jovi, The Who, Paul McCartney, David Beckham and Victoria Beckham. In 1996, Edwards founded The Outside Organisation and Edwards has been named the number 1 entertainment PR in the UK by PR Week magazine for five consecutive years (2015 to 2019). Current clients include Ariana Grande, British Summer Time Hyde Park, Nick Cave, Lin Manuel Miranda, Blondie, Carrie Underwood, Naomi Campbell and David Bowie.

After three years, Edwards created a sub-division in the company with a roster of his own clients including The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks, The Damned and Blondie. In 1981, Alan met Mick Jagger, in New York and went on to represent the Rolling Stones for the next nine years. During this time, Edwards formed Modern Publicity, which traded for more than a decade and included clients such as the Stones, David Bowie, Duran Duran and Bryan Ferry. Alan also worked with Prince and represented him again in 2007 when Prince took up a 21 night residency at the O2 Arena. The company grew throughout the eighties adding artists such as UB40, Robert Palmer, INXS and The Cure.

In 1990 Edwards formed Poole Edwards which evolved into The Outside Organisation. In 2000 Outside Line (digital agency,) became a sub division of the Company. In 1997, Edwards began representing the Spice Girls. The success of the Spice Girls led to Edwards handling further pop acts including Atomic Kitten, Boyzone, Westlife, All Saints and Leona Lewis.

April 2015: Alan Edwards conducted a live event at the V&A on the role of PR over the last 40 years, using materials selected from his own archives. Guest speakers included Dylan Jones, Editor of GQ magazine, music photographer Dennis Morris, Jeremy Deller, Timothy Bell, Alastair Campbell and Bob Geldof.

September 2016: On the Hippie Trail was an offshoot of the headline exhibition at the V&A entitled You Say You Want a Revolution: Records and Rebels 1966–1970. A panel of writers, academics, and veteran “Intrepids” discussed the Hippie Trail – a 1960s overland journey that essentially embodied the counter-cultural consciousness of a post-war generation. Alan Edwards along with Tony Wheeler, Rory MacLean, Sharif Gemie and Brian Ireland contributed to the discussion and the history of this journey made mainly by young people originally referred to as "world travellers", and "seekers", then later as "hippies" and – in a term coined by Rory MacLean – "Intrepids".

In October 2017, Edwards was inducted into the PR Week Hall of Fame by Roger Daltery.

In 2017, Edwards made an appearance as part of the expert panel on the BBC Series, 'Astronauts: Do you have what it takes', on episode 5.

May 2017: Edwards has recently contributed exhibits to the Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains exhibition at the V&A which is available to view until 1 October 2017.

In March 2019, Edwards was named Number 1 Entertainment PR in the UK by PR Week in the magazine's annual Power List 2019, for the fifth consecutive year.